Electronic documentation continues to evolve in content and complexity. Business and government are gradually recognizing this and have begun introducing business systems and processes to take advantage of the additional richness in such documentation. For example, judges are increasingly asking for electronic, hyperlinked briefs on CD-ROM to supplement more traditional static hardcopy and electronic documents that are filed with the courts. Government agencies, such as the United State Patent and Trademark Office, are increasingly allowing applicants to file documents electronically.
The benefits of developing and providing documentation in electronic form are many. Electronic documentation is typically more compact, manageable and easily portable or transmittable, than hard copies. For example, a large document can be carried on a small memory medium, such as a compact disc or a USB Flash Drive. Using electronic references, such as hyperlinks, in an electronic document, a referenced document can be quickly and easily accessed by the reader, without fumbling with numerous hard copies. By contrast, if hard copies are used, the reader must be able to hold his place in a document that references other documents while physically finding and turning to the referenced section(s) of the referenced documents.
However, with electronic documentation come challenges including secure access and version control. For example, in a court trial it is imperative that the court receive the final version of a brief, and that there is no risk of tampering with, or unauthorized editing of, the brief before it is delivered to the court. In addition, all parts of the brief should be included in the delivered electronic form in a way that enables the judge or clerk to quickly access referenced parts of the brief. Judges and other readers will no doubt appreciate electronic references that precisely access the referenced material, rather than references that access an arbitrary place in a referenced document. Furthermore, creators of briefs and other electronic documents need a way to quickly and efficiently generate electronic documents that have multiple parts with confidence that the electronic documents are secure, complete, and accurate.
It is with regard to the foregoing and other problems that embodiments of the invention have been made.